


Identity

by DrunkenOracle



Series: Scars [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 15:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3535445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrunkenOracle/pseuds/DrunkenOracle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eledhwen tells Solas the story of one of her many scars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Identity

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place some great length of time after the events of Inquisition. A lot has happened between then and now, much of which will be covered in other fics. Worth noting is the fact that Eledhwen has taken the title of Grand Inquisitor by this time, and has promoted three individuals to the rank of Inquisitor. A minor restructuring which affords Eledhwen time to travel for leisure, instead of business. Also of note, Solas has returned to Eledhwen's side.

Heavy breaths hung in the air as the Grand Inquisitor and her lifemate lay on the pile of cushions, legs tangled together and skin tingling in post-coital bliss. After a time, they shifted positions. Solas propped himself up on an elbow and Eledhwen rolled onto her stomach and they both still fought to temper their uneven breaths. Healing magic sparked under the mage’s fingerprints as he ran them over the bruises he’d left on his lover’s hips, relishing her soft moan of pleasure. Gently, he worked his way to deep claw marks, and up to bite marks on her shoulders and neck. The marks eased away, the broken flesh re-stitched, the blue sparks faded and he traced the scars on her back, lingering on one below her right shoulder blade.

"You have told me many of your stories,  _ma uthlath_ …” He traced the scar lightly with his fingertips. “But I do not know this one.”

A faint smile spread on Eledhwen’s lips and she slowly withdrew from the makeshift bed, soft veilfire silhouetting her against the dark as she poured water from the pitcher at the nearby table. “I suppose you’re right. I haven’t told this one yet.” She idly sipped at the drink as she rejoined her lover on the cushions and leaned against him, enjoying the feel of his skin against hers.

"It was sometime after I became known as  _ventara’sheman_ , but before we traveled south… some years before the Blight. We were still in the Vimmarks…”

* * *

Eledhwen had been skipping training for weeks, hiding out in her tent and ignoring most everyone. She read books and studied magic theory, focused on learning those things she’d never had a talent for. Something had been eating her up inside since the day with the hart, something that no amount of praise from her father, no lavish overuse of her new title, could fix. Her mother still seemed so quiet and sullen around her.

It was no secret that the Keeper had been disappointed when her daughter showed no magic ability. She had been hoping Eledhwen would be her First, and take over as Keeper some day, but this was clearly not meant to be. She’d never shown anything less than love for the girl, but at the same time she was never terribly close or warm.

It ate Eledhwen up inside.

During the time she’d hidden herself away from her clan, those close to her had visited and tried to shake her out of her stupor, to no avail. She was too focused on trying to force herself to do magic, any magic, even just a little magic.

” _Da’mi_ ,” her father had said. “We need our tracker.” But she had ignored him.

” _Asha’mi_ ,” the clan elders had said. “This is foolish. Do not hide yourself away when we are all here for you.” But she had ignored them.

Alalia had visited as well. “ _Lethallan_ ,” she had said, always trying to soothe her friends in times of trouble. “You do not need to change a thing. Please come back to us. We all miss you.” But Eledhwen had kept studying, kept trying to grab the Fade and twist it to her will, all the while being gnawed at by the doubt that she even bore any connection to the Fade at all.

Most of the clan gave up trying to snap her out of it, but Alalia, Timet, and Dinnae still spoke of ideas to bring her back from whatever place in her head she had gone. They would not lose her, Dinnae’s daughter, Alalia and Timet’s friend, to self doubt, that much they knew. Finally, Timet determined that he would try. He shared no details, simply stood and said he thought he could fix it, and he was gone.

In Eledhwen’s tent she sat, hunched over, trying so hard to grab the Fade and bend it into frost or flame that she did not even notice Timet’s approach. He moved quietly, to be sure, but he had never been quiet enough to slip past her. She was always so alert, and her distracted state now struck at Timet and hurt him. He unsheathed his dagger as quietly as he could and took soft, careful steps toward his friend. He knew two things only that made this action viable in his mind at all, and he kept those two things front and center in his thoughts as he dug the blade into Eledhwen’s back.

The tracker was overcome by blind fury then, and acted purely on instinct and training. She moved away from the blade, growling low as it tore her flesh, and turned on her perceived attacker. As Timet lost control of the skirmish, he knew the first thing was correct. She would not be harmed by one as unskilled with a blade as he, no matter how focused she was on something else entirely. He let that thought go and clung tight to the second as his friend took the hand that held the dagger and pinned him to the ground. He felt the cold metal just over his throat, his fingers crushed in Eledhwen’s grip as they both held the weapon.

The second thing he knew was that Eledhwen was no hunter, only a tracker. She never went for the kill, only the catch. He let that go, too, as the rage in his friend’s eyes faded, replaced by realization. She shook her head and threw the dagger away, rising and backing up from Timet.

"I… I’m sorry." And she fled, her feet thundering softly on the ground as she ran out of the camp and into the trees, so many thoughts clamoring in her head for attention. She stopped some great distance form camp and climbed up into a tree, pain and sorrow swelling within her and spilling out of her eyes.

She had no magical talent. She probably never would. She just didn’t have the aptitude for it, she didn’t have the connection to the Fade for it. That was fine, because she had something else. She had her clan, her friends, her family. She had the skills to overwhelm and disarm any that would wish harm upon them, and the grace and elegance to do it without needless bloodshed. And she had her mother’s pride.

She knew that.

* * *

"I didn’t go back to camp for days, but when I did nobody would leave me alone for hours." Eledhwen set the empty glass on the table and returned to her lifemate’s side among the cushions. "Alalia sat me down and cleaned up the wound, and now it’s that scar."

Solas ran his fingers over the pale mark in his lover’s skin again. “To always remind you who you are and what you have…” he murmured. “ _Ma uthlath_ , that is a story of you I had not expected.”

"We all have moments of weakness and self-doubt,  _vhenan’ara_ , even I.” She leaned down and planted kisses along the mage’s jawline. “But I have so many to keep me grounded. I have you.”

Hunger crept into Solas’ eyes at her words and kisses, and he rolled over onto her, ready to overwhelm and devour her yet again.

**Author's Note:**

> ma uthlath - my eternal love  
> ventara’sheman - windchaser  
> da’mi - little blade  
> asha’mi - blade woman  
> lethallan - friend, considered close as kin  
> vhenan’ara - heart’s desire


End file.
